Man who shot and killed friend starts sentence

WEST CHESTER – A Coatesville man who accidentally shot a friend during a botched drug robbery has begun serving his state prison sentence after pleading guilty to the crime.

Justin Coicou, 25, was sentenced to eight to 17 years behind bars on charges of involuntary manslaughter, robbery, and criminal conspiracy in connection with the November 2009 death of his friend, Pierce Rivera, who was shot once in the back of the head as he and Coicou tried to rob a man they had arranged to sell a large of amount of prescription drugs to.

According to a statement Coicou signed at his plea hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Sarcione last month, he and Rivera had no intention of selling drugs to the man, but instead wanted to rob him of the money he would bring to the meeting.

As the man, Joseph Lunsford III of East Fallowfield, opened the trunk of his car to get the money, Coicou grabbed a .40 caliber semi-automatic he had in his coat pocket. In a struggle for the gun, it discharged, striking Rivera, who was standing beside Coicou.

Coicou was initially charged with second- and third-degree murder, and faced a mandatory life sentence in state prison if he was found guilty of second-degree murder— a so-called “felony murder.” The prosecution, led by Deputy District Attorney Ronald Yen, agreed to withdraw those charges against Coicou in exchange for his plea on the other charges.

Coicou, the stepson of a former South Coatesville borough councilman, Duane Norman, had been held in Chester County Prison on $1 million bail awaiting trial since his arrest in February. He was transferred to the state correctional institution at Camp Hill following his plea on Dec. 5.

Speaking for the prosecution, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Noone said Wednesday the plea was “an appropriate resolution given all of the facts of the case, and provided closure and justice for those involved.”

West Chester defense attorney Joseph P. Green Jr., who represented Coicou, had fought the charges against his client in a series of pre-trail motions, and had cast a critical eye on Lunsford, who was the prosecution’s chief witness but who had been arrested for fleeing from police in July 2011 and released on bail. He indicated that the case was resolved satisfactorily for his client.

“It was a difficult case for everyone involved,” Green said Wednesday. “Everyone agreed that it as an accidental shooting, and an accidental death.”

Coicou was sentenced to two-to-five years in state prison on the involuntary manslaughter charge, which carries with it a maximum term of 2½ to five years in prison. He was sentenced to four to eight years on the robbery charge and two to four years on the conspiracy charge, both of which carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years. All his sentences will run consecutively.

According to the statement of facts that Coicou signed, he and Rivera met with Lunsford and another man the afternoon of Nov. 9, 2009 in the parking lot of an apartment building in Coatesville.

Lunsford, the statement read, had expressed an interest in buying Xanax from the men. Prior to meeting him, Rivera and Coicou agreed that instead of selling him the drugs, they would steal whatever money he brought to the drug deal. Rivera came armed with a loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol.

After a meeting with Lunsford in his car, during which Lunsford and Rivera exchanged one another’s weapons, the three – Lunsford, Rivera, and Coicou —got out of the car and went around to the trunk, where Lunsford said his money was kept. When he opened the trunk, Coicou tried to grab his gun, and the shot that killed Rivera was accidentallyfired. He was 22.

Coicou fled from the scene, but later gave a statement to Coatesville police investigators. Lunsford also spoke with police about the shooting. No charges in Rivera’s death were filed until February 2011, when Coicou was living with a relative in Georgia, although Lunsford was charged in November 2009 with a firearms violation after police found a .40 caliber shell casing matching the bullet involved in Rivera’s death at his home.

According to his family, Coicou had no prior record of violent criminal behavior and had been a good student at both Ss. Phillip and James Elementary School in Exton and Coatesville Area Senior High, from which he graduated in 2005 and where he played basketball as a guard for the Red Raiders.

As a teenager, Coicou was involved with a youth outreach group formed by his stepfather that attempted to keep teenagers in the Coatesville area on track and out of trouble by increasing communication with adults. After graduating from Coatesville, he attended Lincoln University in southern Chester County.

But there are indications that he had some involvement in improper conduct. In April 2009, half a year before Rivera’s death, Coicou was shot in the back two times, showing up at Brandywine Hospital after being driven there in a private car, and apparently he was unable to identify his assailant for police.

Lunsford, meanwhile, has had his own run-ins with the law.

In July 2011, Lunsford was charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police after a Coatesville officer spotted him acting suspiciously in a parking lot on East Lincoln Highway. The officer approached his car, but Lunsford backed the car up and struck the officer.

He then led police on a car chase down East Lincoln Highway. He was apprehended later at his family home in East Fallowfield. Those charges remain open.